Reference articles on history, science, culture and more
Encyclopedia

DPMM FC

Football club in Brunei

Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Duli Pengiran Muda Mahkota Football Club (English: His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Brunei Football Club; abbrev: DPMM or Brunei DPMM) is a professional football club based in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam. The club plays in the Malaysia Super League, the top tier of Malaysian football, after previously entering the Singapore Premier League from 2009 to 2025. DPMM is owned by the Crown Prince of Brunei, Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah.

The club played in the Brunei Premier League in the early 2000s, winning the league title in 2002 and 2004. DPMM then decided to play in Malaysia, and joined the second-tier Malaysian Premier League as a foreign-based team in for the 2005-06 season. They won promotion to the Malaysian Super League (the top tier of Malaysian football) at the end of their first season in Malaysian football, and then finished 3rd and 10th in the following two season in the Malaysia Super League. The club then left the Malaysian league and joined Singapore's S.League for the 2009 season. They won the Singapore League Cup in their first season in Singapore, but were forced to withdraw from the league competition five games before the end of the season after FIFA suspended the Brunei Football Association for government interference in its affairs, thus barring teams from Brunei from taking part in overseas competitions. All the club's league results for 2009 were therefore expunged. At the end of the suspension, they re-entered the S.League and won the league title in 2015 and 2019. They returned to the Malaysia Super League starting from the 2025-26 season.

01History

Beginnings in Brunei (1994-2004)

DPMM started out as a college team in 1994, before being officially established as a professional club in 2000. After being the most successful team in college-level football in Brunei, most of the team's talented players joined DPMM when it became a professional.

The club enjoyed considerable success in Brunei's domestic competitions in the early-2000s, winning the Brunei Premier League in 2002 and 2004, the Brunei FA Cup in 2004, and the Brunei Super Cup in 2002 and 2004.

Joining the Malaysian league (2005-2008)

In 2005, DPMM stopped playing in Brunei's domestic league and joined the Malaysia Premier League (the second tier of Malaysian football) as a foreign-based team, replacing the Brunei representative team. The club was then promoted to the top tier of Malaysian football, Malaysia Super League via the play-offs after a 2-1 aggregate victory over Pahang. They then remarkably finished in 3rd place in their first season in the top tier (2006-07). In the following season (2007-08), they finished in 10th place. They then had to leave the Malaysia Super League due to the deregistration of the Brunei Football Association by the Registrar of Societies.

Since 2004, DPMM had also competed annually in the Singapore Cup (a knock-out tournament which the Football Association of Singapore invites a number of teams from other countries to take part in alongside Singaporean clubs). The team had participated in every edition of the cup from 2004 to 2019, and 2023 to 2025.

Joining the Singapore league, and suspension (2009)

After leaving the Malaysia Super League, DPMM joined Singapore's S.League for the 2009 season, becoming the first team in the league to play their home matches outside Singapore at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium. The club quickly made an impact on the Singapore football scene by winning the Singapore League Cup in June 2009. They defeated the SAFFC in the final on penalties after the match had ended in a 1-1 draw. However, on 30 September that year, FIFA suspended the Brunei Football Association for government interference in its affairs. This meant that teams from Brunei were no longer allowed to compete in tournaments run by other national member associations. The Football Association of Singapore appealed to FIFA to allow DPMM to finish the S.League season, but the appeal was rejected. The results of all DPMM's league matches for 2009 were therefore expunged.

Lifting of suspension, success in Singapore (2012-2015)

After 20 months of being suspended, FIFA has decided to lift the suspension off Brunei Darussalam. This means that the national team as well as the football teams from Brunei Darussalam are allowed to join any football competitions under FIFA. DPMM re-entered the S.League in the 2012 season, and became dominant after the arrival of former English Premier League manager Steve Kean in 2014. They won their first S.League title in 2015, a year after losing ground in the final fixture of the 2014 season.

Intention to pull out from the S.League (2016-2020)

Since the 2016 season, the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) has been reducing the number of imports allowed per the S.League team. This has affected the Bruneian-based outfit greatly, with a lesser pool of local players against Singapore's (or Japan's in the case of Albirex Niigata (S)).

Towards the conclusion of the 2017 S.League in November, DPMM announced their intention on their website to possibly move to the Malaysian league, which they last appeared in 2008. This intention was later "dashed" by the FAM and in particular by the Football Malaysia LLP, which stipulated that DPMM have to play their home games in Malaysia and to have a squad full of Malaysians with Bruneians regarded as import players. DPMM called these rulings "unprofessional" and "insane".

In late December, DPMM stated their intentions to join the Indonesian league for the 2018 season instead. This was made after a meeting between S.League clubs whereby new rules were set to restrict foreign imports to two, and the implementation of a youth-focused roster. However, the move would be "technically impossible" to happen according to PSSI's secretary general a few days after the announcement was made.

Further talks with the FAS made at the turn of the year resulted in a compromise that was reached on 10 January 2018, where the S.League competition organisers would allow them to sign up to 3 foreign players instead of 2 with no age restrictions, and DPMM will also not be subject to the age restrictions. Each local S.League team, apart from the Young Lions, will be required to have at least six under-23 players and eight under-30 players in the squad, with the remaining players to be of any age.

Although they participated in the newly revamped Singapore Premier League in 2018, finishing in third place below champions Albirex Niigata (S) and Home United, DPMM considered joining another league in the Southeast Asia region. Reports by Singapore press in October 2018 revealed that DPMM have submitted an official enquiry to join Thai League 1 for the 2019 season. The club would later announced that they would be competing in the 2019 Singapore Premier League, but afterwards expressed an interest to join Indonesia's Liga 1 in 2020.

On 15 September 2019, DPMM were confirmed champions of the 2019 Singapore Premier League after their closest rivals Hougang United only managed to play a 4-4 draw with Geylang International, leaving the Bruneian club with an unassailable four-point lead at the top of the table. They also reached the semi-finals of the 2019 Singapore Cup before being eliminated by via penalty shootout to Warriors on 30 October.

In 2020, DPMM participated in the Singapore Premier League, but could only play one game before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the league to be suspended until October. The team was unable to fulfill the remaining fixtures due to travel restrictions between Brunei and Singapore, resulting in the inevitable exclusion from the year's SPL season.

DPMM once again withdrew from the 2021 Singapore Premier League due to the ongoing travel restrictions imposed by the Brunei government, but not before showing intent to participate in the league.

Return to Brunei and back to using first team players (2019-2022)

In 2019, DPMM sent a youth team to play in the 2018-19 Brunei Premier League, with three first teamers namely Azim Izamuddin Suhaimi, Abdul Azizi Ali Rahman and Azwan Ali Rahman also registered with the team. They finished in first place at the end of the season, winning promotion to the 2020 Brunei Super League. The 'B' team which began to boast import players like Shuhei Sasahara only completed two games before the season was eventually cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Due to the first team's withdrawal from the Singapore Premier League for the 2021 season, coach Adrian Pennock announced that his team will be lacing up for the 2021 Brunei Super League that would commence in June of that year. The league was suspended three months later due to increasing COVID-19 cases in Brunei and was eventually cancelled for the second successive season.

DPMM competed in the 2022 Brunei FA Cup which was the only competition to be held for the year by the Football Association of Brunei Darussalam. On 4 December 2022, they became the winners of the competition by beating Kasuka in the final with a 2-1 score.

Second stint in Singapore (2023-2025)

DPMM began the process of returning to the Singapore Premier League after the restrictions necessitated by the pandemic eased since the year of 2022. The AFC ratified the move in August of that year. The Singapore Premier League website officially announced DPMM's participation for the 2023 season on 27 January 2023. DPMM also qualified for the 2023-24 AFC Cup qualification round for the first time in their history qualifying in the Preliminary round 2 where they face Myanmar club, Yangon United at the Thuwunna Stadium on 16 August 2023, but unfortunately DPMM conceded a last minute goal which saw them exit the tournament. They finished seventh in the league and fourth in the 2023 Singapore Cup.

In early July 2024, just six games into the season, the club had to replace coach Rui Capela who left for personal reasons, and appointed Scotsman Jamie McAllister in his place. The club endured a five-match losing streak at the start of 2025 but balanced it out towards the end of the season by winning their final six matches, finishing in fifth place in the SPL standings.

Back to Malaysia League (2025, present)

On 22 May 2025, the Football Association of Singapore announced that DPMM will depart the league after the 2024-25 season. Later that day, the Malaysian Football League confirmed the club's participation in the 2025-26 Malaysia Super League alongside 13 other clubs, with the Bruneian side designated as a guest team. DPMM have already signed Indonesian international Ramadhan Sananta and Malaysian defender Fairuz Zakaria prior to MFL's announcement. The move was made official on 3 June in a signing ceremony that took place in Johor Bahru. The club will bear the cost of travel and accommodation for every visiting team throughout the season. They played their first MSL match since returning on 8 August 2025 away against PDRM in a 2-2 draw.

On 25 October 2025, DPMM played Johor Darul Ta'zim (JDT) away in Johor Bahru, the team that has won the league for the last 11 seasons. The Bruneian side lost 10-0 and created DPMM's worst defeat in history, as well as the largest win in MSL history and also JDT's largest win in history at the time. After an inconsistent campaign, DPMM finished in tenth place in their first season back in Malaysia.

DPMM playing against SAFFC during the 2009 S.League Cup Final
DPMM playing against SAFFC during the 2009 S.League Cup Final

02Kit suppliers and shirt sponsors

From 2021 to 2025, DPMM's jerseys were supplied by Bruneian-based sportswear brand Pitch. They have now opted for German manufacturer Puma since.

DPMM features a main sponsor on their jersey starting from the 2024-25 season with Royal Brunei Airlines, who have been one of the club's main sponsors since the early days of their formation.

Period Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsors
2006-2020 Lotto No sponsor
2021-2024 Pitch
2024-2025 Royal Brunei Airlines
2025-2026 Puma
2026, Royal Brunei Airlines
DST
Shah Razen Said's header against Kota Ranger during the 2022 FA Cup
Shah Razen Said's header against Kota Ranger during the 2022 FA Cup

03Stadium

DPMM play their home games at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium. The stadium can accommodate 28,000 spectators. The building is oriented in a north-south direction with the grandstand located at the western section. It has a football field which fulfills FIFA standards, as well as the running track which fulfills IAAF standards. The stadium has a video-matrix scoreboard located at the northern section; it can display both Latin and Jawi writing.

On 20 April 2024, DPMM returned to playing at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium after a period of unavailability due to renovation, winning 3-1 in a pre-season friendly against China League One side Guangxi Pingguo Haliao. On 22 June, DPMM played their first league match since 2019 where they drew against Geylang International 3-3.

04Players

Current squad

As of 23 August 2026

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium
Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium

05Management and staff

Management

Position Staff
Chairman Al-Muhtadee Billah
Vice-chairman Abdul Rahim Kemaluddin Al-Haj
Team manager Mohamad Ali Momin
Assistant team manager Rosmin Kamis

Technical staff

Position Staff
Head coach Jamie McAllister
Assistant coach Helme Panjang
Moksen Mohammad
Goalkeeping coach Leandro Jose Ribeiro
Fitness coach Denis Kavan
Marketing manager Momin Ja'afar
Kitman Kasim Amit
Physiotherapist Faisal Hashim
Masseur Husaini Kahar
Team doctor Long Shi Ying
Nurabrar Hussin
Gregory Parameswaran Libau

06Statistics and records

Performance by coach

The following table provides a summary of the coach appointed by the club.

Coach Season Achievements
Sandi Sejdinovski 15 July 2000-30 June 2002 No sponsor
Yordan Stoykov 1 July 2002-31 December 2002 , 2002 Brunei Premier League
Azman Eusoff 1 January 2003-3 March 2004
Amir Alagic 5 March 2004-14 March 2005 , 2004 Brunei Premier League

, 2004 Brunei FA Cup, Brunei Super Cup

Graham Paddon 14 March 2005-1 July 2005
Ranko Buketa 1 July 2005-30 June 2007
Yordan Stoykov (2) 1 July 2007-10 March 2008
Vjeran Simunić 11 March 2008-27 October 2009 , 2009 Singapore League Cup
Banned by FIFA
Vjeran Simunić (2) 1 October 2011-7 November 2013 , 2012 Singapore League Cup
Steve Kean 28 November 2013-30 November 2017 , 2015 S.League
Renê Weber 1 January 2018-14 October 2018
Adrian Pennock 15 October 2018-31 December 2023 , 2019 Singapore Premier League
Helme Panjang 1 July 2022-31 December 2022 , 2022 Brunei FA Cup
Rui Capela 1 January 2024-5 July 2024
Miguel Bragança (caretaker) 9 July 2024-14 July 2024
Jamie McAllister 15 July 2024, present

Performance by competition

League

The following table provides a summary of the result by season.

Season League Pos. Pl. W D L GS GA P Brunei FA Cup/
Malaysia FA Cup
Singapore Cup Malaysia Cup/
Singapore
League Cup
Top goalscorer Goals
2001 Pepsi Cup 2nd 8 7 0 1 42 4 15 Radiman Abdul Rahman 17
2002 B-League 1st 14 13 1 0 55 16 40 Quarter-finals Sean Lockhart 10
2003 2nd 18 14 2 2 65 12 44 Round 2 Ajayi Oluseye 28
2004 1st 18 17 1 0 81 7 52 Winners First round 30
2005 Withdrew Quarter-finals Goran Vujanović 17
2005-06 Malaysia Premier League 3rd 21 9 6 6 40 33 33 First round Group Stage Tiago dos Santos 10
2006-07 Malaysia Super League 3rd 24 13 5 6 46 29 44 First round Shahrazen Said 21
2007-08 10th 24 4 10 10 27 34 22 First round First round Shahrazen Said
Rosmin Kamis
5
2009 S.League Expelled from the league Quarter-finals Winners Shahrazen Said 8
2010-11 Banned by FIFA
2012 S.League 2nd 24 15 3 6 49 26 48 Preliminary Winners Shahrazen Said 13
2013 8th 27 9 8 10 38 48 35 Quarter Final Runners-up Rodrigo Tosi 8
2014 2nd 27 15 5 7 63 30 50 Third Place Winners 24
2015 1st 27 15 7 5 48 26 52 Third Place First Round Rafael Ramazotti 21
2016 3rd 24 12 5 7 47 37 41 Quarter Final Runners-up 20
2017 8th 24 5 2 17 30 61 17 Quarter Final Semi Final 14
2018 Singapore Premier League 3rd 24 11 8 5 46 38 41 Runners-up Volodymyr Pryyomov 18
2019 1st 24 15 5 4 51 25 50 Fourth Place Andrey Varankow 21
2020 Withdrew Charlie Clough
Andrey Varankow
1
2021 Brunei Super League League abandoned Andrey Varankow 22
2022 No league competition Winners Shahrazen Said 19
2023 Singapore Premier League 7th 24 6 5 13 39 43 23 Fourth Place Hakeme Yazid Said 12
2024-25 5th 32 12 8 12 54 61 44 Semi-finals Dāvis Ikaunieks 14
2025-26 Malaysia Super League 10th 24 6 5 13 30 57 23 Round of 16 Quarter-finals Jordan Murray 10
2026-27 22
DPMM winning the 2022 Brunei FA Cup
DPMM winning the 2022 Brunei FA Cup

07Continental record

08Records and statistics

As of 23 June 2026

Top 10 all-time appearances

Appearances statistics below are only based on records from the 2009 S.League season onwards, includes cup games.

Rank Player Years Appearances
1 Azwan Ali Rahman 2013, present 272
2 Azwan Saleh 2006-2025 269+
3 Wardun Yussof 2004, 2005-2024 238+
4 Shah Razen Said 2005-2022 226+
5 Helmi Zambin 2009-2024 226
6 Rosmin Kamis 2004-2009, 2012-2017 213+
7 Hendra Azam Idris 2012-2024 213
8 Najib Tarif 2012-2026 201
9 Yura Indera Putera 2015, present 170
10 Adi Said 2012-2018, 2019 161

Top 10 all-time scorers

Goal statistics below are only based on records from the 2002 B-League season onwards, includes cup games.

Rank Player Appearances Total goals
1 Shah Razen Said 226+ 101
2 Ajayi Oluseye 76+
3 Rafael Ramazotti 89 66
4 Azwan Ali Rahman 272 60
5 Rodrigo Tosi 54 58
6 Andrey Voronkov 59 58
7 Hakeme Yazid Said 88 47
8 Adi Said 161 41
9 Peter Grierson 30
10 Rosmin Kamis 213+ 27
DPMM winning the 2009 Singapore League Cup
DPMM winning the 2009 Singapore League Cup

09Honours

League

Brunei

Singapore

Cups

Brunei

  • Pengiran Sengamara Di Raja Cup
    • Runners-up (1): 2000
  • DPMM FC Invitational Cup
    • Champions (1): 2002
  • Brunei Invitational Cup
    • Champions (1): 2002
  • Brunei Super Cup
    • Champions (2): 2002, 2004
  • Brunei FA Cup

Singapore

Watch videos about DPMM FCExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article DPMM FC, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

Images, from Wikimedia Commons:

Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.